By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) councillor Cilliers Brink has been removed as Tshwane executive mayor after a vote of no confidence against him on Thursday.
It received 120 votes in favour of the removal and 87 against, with one person choosing to abstain. A new mayor will be voted in the next 7-14 days.
The motion was brought by the African National Congress (ANC), which claimed that Brink’s 18 months in charge of the metro have been ineffective, particularly in lower-income areas.
However, Brink and the DA say the multiparty coalition government has made steady progress under his leadership.
The motion to remove the mayor was supported by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), ActionSA, Patriotic Alliance (PA) and other minority parties.
Those against were the DA, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), Freedom Front (FF) Plus and African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP).
The coalition in Tshwane had comprised the DA, ActionSA, FF Plus, IFP, and the ACDP.
These parties made up a slim majority in the council, sporting 108/214 seats; however, the coalition in Tshwane had long been on a knife’s edge because of tensions between the DA and ActionSA.
ANC Tshwane regional secretary George Matjila said, the DA had been “arrogant” in the negotiations and had insisted on running Tshwane alone without sharing power with his party.
Matjila said the ANC at national level had only held talks with the DA around forming a coalition in Tshwane but that the DA’s demands had been unreasonable.
“Once you start saying you want to take charge and give us [the city of] Ekurhuleni, the ANC, as we speak, has Ekurhuleni. In the negotiations themselves, the DA was seen as being arrogant, “Matjila said.
In response, Brink reassured residents that neither he nor the DA would “abandon” them.
“I’m staying in the City of Tshwane. We will make sure that whatever happens to the government of the City of Tshwane that the looters [and] the corrupt that have now come together to remove our government from power will not do the worst.”
We will look at protecting the senior management appointees.
“We will look at ensuring that the disciplinary processes that were started against corrupt officials continue and that even in these difficult circumstances, we will play the role of an effective opposition,” the former Tshwane mayor said.